To our age 50 + friends, I wanted to reach out to you during these challenging times to assure you that the Association of Mature Americans (AMAC) is doing everything we can to help protect people who are at risk for contracting the coronavirus, keep the outbreak in a calm perspective, set the expectations of what is to come while continuing to fight for your interests in Washington, DC.
Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been doing:
· In the interest of containing the spread of the virus, we’ve postponed our annual conference as well as all AMAC advocacy events throughout the country
· We’ve committed to the free flow of information from our trusted sources by creating a special section on www.amac.us dedicated to the coronavirus and are constantly updating it
· Taken steps to ensure that our United States-based call centers are fully operational to support AMAC members as well as anyone who chooses to contact us
· Successfully recommended that the White House establish a timeline of events describing how quickly and thoroughly the President has responded to the crisis
· Conduct on-going dialogue with medical experts on AMAC media platforms to keep people informed
· Highlighted and supported the expansion of care for Medicare patients, including telemedicine
· Recognized the financial implications for seniors living on a fixed-income during this time and urged Congress to protect Social Security benefits from court-ordered garnishment and recommended a guaranteed cost of living increase for beneficiaries in 2021
· Successfully fought for the provision that allows for penalty free withdrawals from retirement accounts for necessary purchases that was included in virus aid legislation
· Encouraged Congress to pass H.R. 856 to increase access to healthcare for low-income individuals and families
· Watched very carefully the legislative maneuvering on Capitol Hill to prevent political opportunists from taking advantage of the crisis by inserting bad policies into virus aid bills · As this political watchdog, we’ve already identified harmful policies that would drive up medical costs and limit access to health care that were included in some legislation and successfully fought to have them removed
· Continued this fight to have more bad policy removed from virus aid legislation that would restrict patient options and potentially price-fix and over-regulate the direct primary care option
Friends, AMAC is here for you. We are tirelessly fighting for your interests as we have done for 13 years. We’ve redoubled our efforts during this crisis and ask that you remain calm and act with prudence. While we are working hard to do our part in supporting people during this emergency, we put our faith in God’s providence and ask Him to grant wisdom to our leaders, strength for stressedout healthcare workers and first responders, ingenuity to scientists to develop new therapies and also for His healing hand to comfort us all.
Sincerely, Rebecca Weber Chief Executive Officer Association of Mature American Citizens